Olympic Legend Daley Thompson launches a ‘World-First’ Lightshow

Daley Thompson will unveil a unique Olympic lightshow on the EDF Energy London Eye on 19 July, driven by the nation’s tweets on London 2012. EDF Energy is capturing the nation’s excitement about the Games by measuring London 2012 related tweets and converting them into the world’s first social media driven lightshow on the iconic landmark every night at 9pm.

Every night during the London 2012 Games, the lightshow will reveal the Energy of the Nation celebrating the highs, lows, triumphs and glories of the day. The lightshow will include displays of the Union Flag and gold, silver or bronze lighting, dependent on the colour of the medals Team GB bring home. The show will also be live-streamed every day at edfenergyofthenation.com

Daley Thompson said: “Hosting the Games in London is an incredible once in a lifetime event and as a passionate supporter of the Games I want everyone to get behind the athletes and really show their support. We need to get behind our favourites to power them onto gold. EDF Energy of the Nation gives you a really easy way to join in, wherever you are and help drive a world first every night on the EDF Energy London Eye - a light show powered by the nation’s tweets. Simply tweet your thoughts using #Energy2012. So come on, show your support for London 2012 and add your voice to the biggest conversation of the year.”

To create the lightshow, EDF Energy has partnered with a group of graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world’s leading science and technology Institutions. Together, they developed an intuitive algorithm that linguistically analyses tweets about the Games from the UK*. Real-time social sentiment tracking splits the tweets into positive and negative conversations and filters them through a programme, which systematically converts them into a lightshow.

Justin Manor, Founder of Sosolimited, who developed the technology for the lightshow said: “The algorithm we developed converts real-time social emotions into colour and motion – tweets to light show. We distil 24 hours of action into a 24 minute visual concert that embodies the emotional peaks and troughs of the day. Being able to light up the EDF Energy London Eye every night is a one of a kind of experience both for us and anyone who wants to join in on Twitter.”

Gareth Wynn, EDF London 2012 Programme Director said: “London 2012 will be celebrated through a series of remarkable moments that will be captured and shared by millions instantly on social media. Energy of the Nation pushes boundaries by allowing people to get behind the Games on Twitter and see the emotion of these key moments represented each night on this globally recognised icon of London.”

To see how the nation is talking about London 2012 on Twitter, including regional breakdowns, go to edfenergyofthenation.com or download the Energy2012 smartphone app. Add your voice on the Games using #Energy2012 on Twitter.

EDF Energy, the official electricity supplier to London 2012, is proud to be powering the Games, as well as the EDF Energy London Eye and Tower Bridge with our low-carbon nuclear backed electricity**. To find out more about low-carbon electricity visit: edfenergy.com

ENDS

*This algorithm developed by Sosolimited in partnership with EDF Energy, linguistically analyses tweets about the London 2012 Games from the UK and splits the tweets into positive and negative conversations. These conversations are then filtered through a programme, which systematically converts them into a lightshow.

For detailed information about how this works, please visit: http://www.edfenergy.com/brand/energy-of-the-nation/how-it-works.shtml

** EDF Energy’s electricity supply to the Olympic Park is backed by 80% electricity from EDF Energy’s nuclear generation assets, 20% electricity from renewable sources. The electricity provided to the London Eye and Tower Bridge is 100% backed by electricity from EDF Energy’s nuclear generation assets. All low-carbon electricity purchased to supply the Olympic Park, London Eye and Tower Bridge is supplied into the National Grid, and each receives electricity via the National Grid, not directly from any specific generations assets